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New orders for manufactured goods rose 0.6% in February, building on January’s 1.8% gain. When excluding transportation, new orders edged up 0.4%. Orders for durable goods increased 1.0%, following a 3.4% surge in January. Year to date, durable goods orders are up 2.3%. Nondurable goods orders ticked up 0.3% in February, the same as the prior month. Nondurable goods orders are up 0.8% year to date.

New orders for mining, oil field and gas field machinery led the increase in durable goods, up 12.7%. In January, the largest monthly decrease occurred in ships and boats, which declined 15.9%, similar to the prior month. The largest over-the-year changes occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts (up 64.1%) and ships and boats (down 12.9%).

Factory shipments increased 0.7% in February, after rising 0.5% in January. Shipments excluding transportation edged up 0.4%, nearly the same as the previous month. Shipments for durable goods improved 1.2% in February, up from 0.7% in January and up 1.3% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments rose 0.3% in February and are up 0.8% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing industries rose just 0.1% in February, following a 0.2% increase in January. Inventories advanced 0.1%, while the inventories-to-shipments ratio dipped to 1.45. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods decreased to 6.81 in February from 6.84 the prior month.